Omaha daily bee., 1887-06-20
=. A MAN wlTHoUTA,JAw.
Wounded With a Poisoned Spear In
m African Jun gie-Skilif full Sur.
gerry.

gerry.
New YORK Herald; A man without a
jaw is Michael CASTELAR,, who was recent
ly admitted rs patient to Roosevelt
Hospital.
He is q Spaniard, about fifty years old,
and has spent much of his time at sea.
Three years ago the bark on which he
was acting as mate was driven ashore on
the coast of Africa in a hurricane. Three
sailors besides CASTELAR, were the only
ones who survived the shipwreck, and
one of the sailors fortunately had been a
member of an expedition that had gone
into the interior several years before in
search of ivory and was familiar with
the country and the habits of the natives
To get to the nearest civilized settlement
required a journey of about seven hun
dred miles through thick, jungles and
misasmatic tlowlands aud over lofty
mountains. The four started on the
wearisome march. At the end of u
month two of the sailors died of fever
and after their bodies had been decently
buried the survivors pressed onward TO
the place of safety.
FEARFUL WOUND.
There was plenty of food in the wild
growing vegetation, birds nests and
small game, and much danger from the
wild beasts and ferocious natives. The
two men always avoided the natives
whenever it was possible, but on several
occasions there were hand to hand con.
tlicts and the travellers had many
wound to testify to the agility of the ma
tive born citizens. On one occasion Cas-.
telar, while fighting with native, was
struck in the face by long spcar-like
weapon, the point of which was driven
through both cheeks. Castelar, grabbed
the weapon and with a deXterous thrust
sent it into the black mans heart. He
carried the thing with him afterward.
Some leaves that the sailor gathered
checked the hemorrhage from the severe
wound, and when they got to the settle
ment about ten days later, the wound
seemed to be healing well.
An English surgeon was visited, and to
save Disagreement from the imperfect
healing he reopened the wound and
sewed it up in the regular way. But the
wound did not heal as readily as had
been anticipated, and the flesh sloughed
away in surprising manner CASTELAR,
lost flesh, became exceedingly weak and
in time his skin became dark copper
color. Then the surgeon, on examining
the weapon with which the wound was
made, found that it was the travjah or
poisonous spear. The head of the spear
is dipped in a vegetable poison known
| only to the natives, which, though it acts
slowly, is believed by them to produce
certain death An antidote was given
and had the effect of improving the pa
natural color. The external wound in
the cheek closed. but there was constant
soreness and twinges of pain in both
jaws.
CASTELAR, was so completely run down
that he was advised to take sea voyage,
and when tramp steamer came into the
port he shipped on her, bound for China
and thence to this city. Throughout the
long voyage CASTELAR, did not have a mo.
ment's peace. The motion of the vessel
seemed to aggravate the pain in his jaws,
and on the trip from China here he would
have been turned over to the fishes if the
captain had not been unusually mild for
his calling. The day of his arrival he was
removed to Roosevelt hospital, and his
case was carefully studied in the light of
the history of the injury.
A WONDERFUL OPERATION.
From the symptoms and the gradual
decline IN the patients health, the con-
conclusion was reached by DR.. Spencer
that the patient had a cancerous tumor
involving both jaws. AS to how far the
condition of the jaws was due to the in
oculation of the poison was matter of
doubt. Some of the consulting physi-
clans held that it had nothing to DO with
it. But it was decided that extirpation
OF the jaw was necessary. The patient
was taken to the operating room the
day after his admission to the hospital
and placed under the influence of ether,
and the operation was successfully and
skilfully performed. What was left did
not look much like face.
The wound has now nearly healed, the
patient is recovering strength, but his
face is rs fiat as a pancake. An attempt
will be made as soon as the tenderness is
gone to put in an artificial rubber law to
give the face natural appearance. If
the patient can get used to the incon-
vcnience there will not be much deformlty
left in the contour, though, of course,
the scars will show something of what he
has gone through Whether there will
be permanent cure cannot be told for a
year.